Metallic alloy precipitates in high dose indium implanted MgO

Abstract

MgO implanted at room temperature with 150keV In⁺ ions and doses ranging from 10¹⁵ to 10¹⁷ ions cm^?2 was studied by optical absorption and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Creation of defects in the anionic sublattice (F-, F⁺-, F₂-centers) and in the cationic sublattice (V^?-centers) are observed. Subsequent annealings of the implanted crystals have shown different behaviours depending on the implanted dose. For medium dose (2 × 10¹⁶ ions cm^?2), the formation of In³⁺ species seems to be the preponderant phenomenon. At higher dose (8 × 10¹⁶ ions cm^?2), metallic precipitates are formed between 400 and 700°C. The identification of these precipitates has been achieved using TEM: they are formed of a metallic alloy Mg₃In with a hexagonal structure and their orientation relationship with respect to the MgO matrix is: (0001)Mg₃In//(111)Mgo and 1120]_Mg3In// l10]MgO.